The present invention relates generally to off-road motor vehicles, such as utility or recreational vehicles, and more particularly, to mechanism for suspending the front axle of utility vehicles.
Small off-road vehicles such as utility or recreational vehicles are becoming popular for recreational and other general purpose off-road usage. Such utility vehicles can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,770. These utility vehicles have found usage on golf courses and at sporting events, and are particularly adaptable for utilization on a farm. This type of flexibility in the wide variety of uses necessitates a vehicle that is highly flexible, highly maneuverable and the like. This demands a vehicle that will afford a high degree of maneuverability and ease of steering.
Steering characteristics of known utility vehicles provide poor turning performance. Known utility vehicles have turning clearance circles having a diameter greater than twenty-one feet. The use of independent front wheel suspension mechanisms on known utility vehicles, coupled with the mounting of the rack and pinion systems on the frame of the vehicle, introduces minor king pin rotations as the steering tires ride over ground undulations. Such construction reduces steering precision and can accelerate the wear of the tires on the steering axle.
Some utility vehicles have three axles, front and rear axles, and a middle axle that is typically positioned slightly forwardly of the rear axle. In other utility vehicle embodiments, only front and rear axles are provided. In the embodiment of a utility vehicle shown in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/841,001, filed on Apr. 25, 2001, entitled xe2x80x9cBogey Beam Axle Support For Utility Vehiclesxe2x80x9d, the middle axle is mounted on a bogey beam that extends longitudinally between the front and middle axles and is pivotally connected at an intermediate point to the chassis. To maximize manufacturing efficiencies, it would be desirable to utilize this bogey beam construction in a two axle utility vehicle embodiment and utilize the bogey beam as a mechanism for suspending the front axle for improved ride and steering characteristics.
It is therefor desirable to provide a utility and recreational vehicle that overcomes the disadvantages of the known prior art utility vehicles.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a suspension mechanism for the front axle of a two-axle utility vehicle by using a bogey beam mechanism developed for support of the middle axle of a larger utility vehicle embodiment.
It is another object of this invention to provide a suspension mechanism that will substitute for the middle axle to create a two-axle utility vehicle embodiment out of a three-axle configuration.
It is an advantage of this invention to enhance manufacturing efficiencies by utilizing a three-axle utility vehicle configuration to provide a two-axle utility vehicle embodiment. It is a feature of this invention to provide a suspension mechanism for the front axle of a utility vehicle having a bogey beam configuration.
It is another feature of this invention that a load placed into the load bed of the utility vehicle will be distributed to the bogey beam for distribution to the front axle.
It is still another advantage of this invention that the ride characteristics of a utility vehicle are improved, particularly under load bearing conditions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a front axle suspension mechanism utilizing a bogey beam mechanism for an off-road vehicle that is durable in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, carefree in maintenance, easy to assemble, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features, and advantages are accomplished according to the present invention by providing a utility vehicle having a bogey beam pivotally connected to the chassis of the vehicle. The bogey beam supports the front axle at a forward end thereof and is connected to a suspension strut at the rearward end thereof. The pivotal connection of the bogey beam to the vehicle chassis is at a point intermediate of the forward and rearward ends. The suspension strut takes the place of a middle axle from a three-axle utility vehicle configuration to permit the construction of a two-axle embodiment of the utility vehicle without requiring a significant change in the configuration of the vehicle. Loads placed on the load bed of the vehicle are still primarily distributed to the front axle through the connection of the chassis with the bogey beam.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detailed description that follows, in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed as defining the limits of the invention.